His Lovely Shade
by TheRangersArrow
Summary: "NO, no, please! Not her anything but my darling shade!" with a yell he pushed the Guardians away from her. He held her and watched as her life force slipped away."Don't be afraid we'll see each other after I sleep for a little while. You'll see." The Guardians watched in horror as the boogeyman cried. "Tell us a story, boogeyman." OneShot


**and here is a little plot bunny that wouldnt go away. (and if you will believe it, I wrote it on my laptop!) Well happy New Year! Whoo! 2013! Yeah! so excited *sarcasm* anyways here its a little dark I guess. One-Shot. I could add more later I guess... maybe, maybe not...**

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He wasn't in his caverns… was he? No, he couldn't be. He was deep under the ground, in a single cavern far beneath the earth's surface. His nightmares had taken him… somewhere else… but where? He took a step in the darkness that surrounded him, so like his own shadows but so different nonetheless. He sensed another presence.

"Hello?" he called quietly. He heard a scuff and a gasp.

"Who are you?" came a small voice. "What do you want with me?" the feminine voice echoed in the empty black void.

"My name is Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, I don't want anything from you… what is your name? If you'll honor me with it." The presence seemed to hesitate.

"My name is Lenora… Princess of Shadows." He looked around still finding it too dark to find where the echoing voice of the princess came from.

"Lenora, why are you down here, and for how long?" he gold eyes flashing with deep feeling of loneliness permeating the air.

"A long time… I-I can't remember, but I do remember why. I… I had tried to make the shadows of the world creep into the minds of children so they could think like I do, so I'd never be alone, or forgotten, and actually _seen_." There were tears in the voice and it hitched for a moment a sob echoing in the void they seemed to be in together. "I was chased down here by the light and the Man in the Moon's orders. So alone… so alone. I've been down here for almost as long as I can remember, can you see me?" the voice was excited now. "You can hear me…" the voice faltered a bit. "Or am I imagining things and you're not really there, _OH_, please be _REAL_!" the voice practically wailed.

"Yes, Yes I'm real. Don't worry, Lenora, I am here with you. I can't see anything right now though."

"Oh. It has been so long, I'm just a shade in this damned hole. I'll fix that." The darkness seemed to relinquish its hold and it grew a little brighter and in front of him stood a striking figure. Her hair was long and blacker than midnight, reaching a little past her shoulders. Her glowing green eyes seemed to stare right into him. Her skin was a gray much like his own and her figure slim and fit. Shadows flickered behind her and around her. She just screamed beauty to him. She took his breath away and he couldn't help but want to make her happy in any way he could. He wanted to vanquish her fear of being alone forever and ever and wanted to hold her close on a starry night and just exist with her for eternity. He shook his head out of his fantasies and smiled at the woman who had been staring right back.

"How did you find me?" _and are you going to leave me? _Was the silent question ringing in the air. He could feel her fear and Fear didn't like that.

"I do not know… I believe my nightmares brought me here." Her lips a slight red formed a delicate O and she shrugged and turned away from him. Deeper into the cavern she led him.

He spent many days with the shadow princess, talking with her and falling evermore in love with the dark creature. He loved to hear her laugh and loved to see her smile, knowing he'd put it there. Oh how he wished to please her. So he slowly broke apart her prison to set her free and just as the finishing touches of her prison break came to light she kissed him and fell in love right back.

They escaped into the night. The darkness enfolding them like an old friend and the moon ignored them. He let them be, for now.

They lived awhile in peace but Pitch was still angry at the Guardians but not as much now that he had his sweet shade. She let him plan and he made her a promise he made sure he would keep. Only for her, only for her. Then he sprang into action.

"This is revenge_, Frost_." Pitch spat. "this is for humiliation and loneliness and –" Pitch was cut off by a boomerang to the face. He swore violently and backed away from Jack whom he had cornered against a dark mass. He looked at the approaching Guardians with disdain.

"Oh hello, miss me?" he cackled silently. The Guardians saw something behind him. His face fell when he felt her presence. He turned to her and held her near him and tried to keep his façade up.

"let me introduce my darling shade," he gave her an imploring look that they could not see. His smile curled up again when he faced them.

"I'm Lorena, Queen of Shadows and Nightmares, but you can call me Shadow." She smiled not unkindly and forced.

"A pleasure I'm sure." Came Jack's voice. He stood with his 'family' staff poised and ready to fire, so Pitch attacked first. Always keeping her behind him and away from danger, but he lost track of North in the fighting. He came at him from behind sword flying in a stabbing motion.

"NO!" came the echoing screech of his queen as he turned to see her take the blade for him. He watched in horror as his lover fell to her knees.

"NO, no, please! Not her anything but my darling shade!" with a yell he pushed the Guardians away from her. He held her and watched as her life force slipped away. "You can't leave me Lorena, I need you! Please, don't go without me!" he pushed at the wound on her belly, desperately trying to stop the flow of golden blood. He cried not caring what the Guardians saw.

"Its alright sweetheart, I'll be fine, we'll be fine. I'll never leave you, just like you never left me." She coughed and caressed his face. "Don't be afraid we'll see each other after I sleep for a little while. You'll see." The Guardians watched in horror as the boogeyman cried as the shadowy woman in his arms reassured him.

"No! Stay with me! Forever for eternity, remember. " she looked at him a little frightened now.

"Remember me fondly."

"Forever and always."

"Tell us a story, boogeyman." He smiled through his tears.

"Of course, anything for you, love." He was silent for a moment. "There once was a princess trapped in a cavern beneath the ground and one day a king stumbled upon her prison after a battle he sorely lost. The moment the king laid eyes on her he couldn't help but love her. Her glowing green eyes took his breath away and he wanted nothing but to make her smile." She smiled at him and slowly her eyes began to fade.

"So he broke her out of the prison and took her home. Hoping she'd love him and she did. Very deeply and she made him make a promise one day. That if he chose to take any kind of revenge he would try and if he'd failed he would return and never try again and stay with her forever more. So he set off and he failed and came back knowing he'd never be alone and they lived happily ever after…" he never finished the story she looked at him pleadingly.

"I will always believe in you Pitch…" and with those final words her hand fell to her chest and the light in her eyes faded.

"NO! Please Lorena! Don't leave me here! I need you so badly… please, please." He cried into her form shaking with grief and fear of the dark loneliness that rose in his chest.

"What did she mean by 'us'?" asked North. His crying was softer now and he looked at the Guardians with little interest all life had left his face.

"Oh irony you vile, disgusting being." He looked at North and all of them with a look of utter forgiveness and sorrow, it frightened them. "You killed my pregnant wife." He said as he turned back to her lovely face, just so matter-of-factly.

They stood stock still "_WHAT!_" one of them yelled he couldn't tell who. He quietly closed her eyes with a gray fingered hand.

"My wife and child… I should have made sure she stayed home, this is all my fault… oh how could life still be so _CRUEL!_ I promised her. I promised!" his eyes again filled with tears. He stood suddenly and lifted her limp form in his arms. "I need to go. I have someone I need to give a piece of my mind to!" and he disappeared into the shadows leaving the still talking Guardians behind and in shock.

"YOU HORRID!... how could you do that to me, you- you've given me enough pain for once! Couldn't you have just let me have one piece of solace in my life?! NO! I guess not. I find the most beautiful, the- the most loving being! Someone who actually _loved me back_! Mind you! And you send them and I had to watch her fade! In my arms! With my little one still clinging to life inside her! Why!? Why…."

He kneeled with her body still in his arms in his clearing with the little broken bedframe and a full moon looking down on him. Lights seemed to fade around the King of Nightmares and the earth silently trembled beneath his feet.

"She was _my _light in the darkness! The darkness of loneliness and despair but I- I can't be without her now. I can't imagine life without her. It would give _me _nightmares. Why couldn't you have just let me fail and crawl back in my hole and stay with her forever? I-I- I can't do this without her…"

_Put the dagger down, Pitch._ His head snapped up to the moon and then to his hand, where resided a blade of nightmare sand. He dropped it with a look of horror on his face.

_She wouldn't want that. I made a mistake… and in any way I can I will rectify it. I am so sorry Pitch. I should have _seen _there was something. Something that made you happy… _Pitch couldn't believe his ears. The Man in the Moon was apologizing, apologizing to _him_! He gave the moon an incredulous look.

"Thank you." He breathed and the moonlight showered down on her still form. The golden blood washed away and her dress of shadows knit back together. Her skin got back its gray luster and her eyes fluttered open. Their piercing green light glowing with the moonlight. A sad and elated smile broke across his lips.

"Thank you." He whispered and as soon as the moonbeams light had disappeared from her slender form, he held her and cried into her shoulder and kissed her.

"My darling Lorena, oh how my heart ached without you." His amber eyes sparkled with tears of joy as he looked into her loving face.

"Pitch! Oh my beloved. I felt you cry out to me. Into the void of the beyond… but how?" he looked up and she followed his gaze and smiled silently and nodded her thanks and as usual Manny watched quietly. Pitch's face became puzzled and frightened. He turned to her.

"What of the baby, love?" he whispered. She smiled brightly and he sighed in relief.

"Thank you." He whispered for the third time. "life has meaning again." And they embraced in the moonlight as six beings watched on. One smile brightly in the sky the others watching in the clearing with the happy couple.

All was well for the King and Queen… and for the children… and the moon… and North, Tooth, Bunny, Sandy, and Jack. Everything was right in the world.

And one day it became all the brighter for two shadows in the dark. When a cry and a laugh entered the world. He had bright green eyes and pitch black hair, dark gray skin and his mother's nose. They named him Kearn and he grew and learned. Running with nightmares and making friends with snowflakes and a crooked smile that was never far away. A laugh that would ring through the cavern walls. And glowing green eyes with just a hint and speckling of golden amber.

And they lived happily into eternity…. Most of the time….

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**Lorena means little sorrowful one and another version of it means beautiful night and Kearn means dark. Let me hear your thoughts, critiscims, ect. ect. and I'd like to thank you for your time. :3**


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